Lots of companies are still nervous about participating in social media; they fear negative comments, among other things. The reality, of course, is that if you're providing lousy products or service, the bad comments are coming anyway, and with an ever larger megaphone.
Example 8 million is singer/songwriter Dave Carroll's tuneful blast at United Airlines for breaking his guitar -- and then stonewalling Dave for a year against apologizing and paying damages.
Four days after posting the video, and 1.3 million views later, United is rushing to make amends and even saying they'll use Dave's video for internal customer service training. Obviously the damage is done. And the main lesson here is not actually about social media, it's about customer service. If you're not doing the right thing, expect people to give you grief. Engaging more directly in social media might help, as Comcast is finding out, but the real answer is fix your service and don't give people reasons to shout -- or sing!
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